Former state special education director says TEA knew about allegations against her

TEA insists the allegations were not disclosed during hiring process

AUSTIN — Texas Education Agency staff members were aware of misconduct allegations when they hired Laurie Kash, an Oregon educator, to lead the state's special education department, text messages provided to the Houston Chronicle show.

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“TEA lied to the public when they said they were not aware of the allegations when they hired Laurie,” said Kash’s attorney, Bill Aleshire, who provided the text messages to the Chronicle.

Asked about the text messages and if the agency stands by its statements that it did not know about the allegations, a TEA spokeswoman sent the Chronicle an earlier release stating that the agency did not know about the allegations.

"These allegations were not disclosed during the hiring process, and if these serious allegations had been disclosed, she would not have been hired,” the statement said. “The agency has terminated Dr. Kash’s employment. Dr. Kash has no business being in charge of special education policy and programming in Texas.”

‘I’ll stand by you'

In late July, Kash was in the midst of the hiring process with TEA. Porter, the executive director of special populations, texted her asking if she had a minute to chat.

In an interview with the Chronicle, Kash said Porter asked her about an article he found when he Googled her name. The article contained allegations that Kash had kissed an exchange student living in her home in 2007.

She denied the allegations and told Porter that the state cleared her of any wrongdoing. She said the allegations were all part of a scheme by an employee to get her husband, the superintendent of the Rainier school district, fired.

Kash said in that same conversation she told Porter about the employees that eventually filed the civil lawsuit against her in November. They claim Kash and her husband barred them from reporting an alleged sexual assault against a 6-year-old girl.

In a text message following their phone conversation, Porter says he “did a little digging to be able to put book ends to the story” for Penny Schwinn, the deputy commissioner for academics.

“As far as the agency is concerned, don’t give any of it another thought. If it comes up through some other channel after we make the announcement of your hiring, I’ll stand by you and we’ll just get through it,” another text from Porter reads. “It’s also possible that it doesn’t ever come up, and is a complete non issue."

The texts do not specifically reference the employees or the allegations involved in the November lawsuit.

But in a text message that Porter sent Kash in November when the Texas Tribune published an article about the Oregon lawsuit, Porter raised no concern about the allegation.

"I found out Saturday,” Kash responded. "It’s that crazy employee I told you about this summer.”

Porter didn’t reply.

Federal complaint

Aleshire, Kash’s attorney, says the text messages prove that the TEA knew of the allegations and that the agency is using the Oregon lawsuit as a cover.

Aleshire believes Kash was fired because she was outspoken about a no-bid, $4 million contract with SPEDx, a tech company that is analyzing the confidential records of students with disabilities.

Kash filed a federal complaint alleging the state improperly awarded the contract to SPEDx. The next day, she was fired.

TEA officials repeatedly have said the department followed all the proper procurement procedures. They say the project is necessary to improve outcomes for special education students in Texas, but some parents and advocacy organizations have raised privacy concerns and question if the money spent on the project could be put to better use.

“The Oregon lawsuit was an early Christmas gift to TEA to use as a cover excuse after she complained about the SPEDx contract,” Aleshire said. “She was fired because of the contract. That’s the plain truth."